From Fr. JC Maximilian's Desk: "Nazareth--the Hidden Life"

Last week I introduced you to Blessed Charles de Foucauld, the French priest who went to live as a hermit in the Sahara Desert. In his writings, Blessed Charles seemed to focus on three life locations: Nazareth, the Desert, and the Public Ministry. These life locations are more than merely a physical place, but rather modes of spirituality that we can see in Christ’s life, and as a disciple, we should also experience in our own life. Of these three life locations, Blessed Charles writes, “In your heart of hearts don’t attach yourself to any of these three ways of life … all are equally perfect.” And each has it’s own danger. This week let’s focus on Nazareth.

Nazareth was a small village in Galilee, and it is where St. Joseph took the child Jesus and the Blessed Mother to after the angel told him it was safe to leave Egypt. Very little is known about Jesus’ life there in Nazareth. Only St. Luke speaks of this time in his Gospel, but only in the briefest fashion. We know that Jesus grew physically and matured in wisdom. He was obedient to his parents, and he was known as the carpenter’s son.

In a private retreat in November 1897 Blessed Charles asked Jesus, “inspire in me the thoughts I should have about your hidden life,” and these are some of the inspirations that came to him, “He went down, he humbled himself -- this life was one of humility. Your life was one of lowliness: the place you took was the lowest of all. You went down with them to live their life with them, the life of the poor laborer, living by working. They were obscure, and you lived in the shade of their obscurity. You were subject to them …. Your life was one of submission.

The Nazareth Life has several aspects. First, it is a place of Formation. This is where we are formed in the virtues which will guide our lives. Our early, “hidden,” family life prepares us for, connects us with, and leads us to our present life.

Nazareth is also the place of “ora et labora”: prayer and work. This is what makes up the hidden life of Nazareth. Human labor is dignified when done for the glory of God. From that retreat in 1897, Blessed Charles wrote in the voice of Jesus, “Do what you think I did and what I would have done …. Imitate me…. Work hard enough to earn your daily bread, but less than ordinary workers. They work to earn as much as possible. You and I work … to earn a very frugal diet and the poorest of clothing and lodgings, together with enough to give small sums in alms…. We work less than others workers because… we have fewer material needs and… greater spiritual needs.”

Another aspect of the spirituality of Nazareth is humility. Writing to his spiritual director, Blessed Charles wrote of Jesus, “He went down with them [his earthly parents] and came to Nazareth: the whole of His life was a going down. He went down in becoming man. He went down in becoming a little child, He went down in submitting to obedience, He went down in becoming poor, rejected, exiled, persecuted, punished, in putting himself in the lowest place.” The humility of Nazareth is a renouncing of power and fame for weakness and anonymity. “The humility of Nazareth teaches us is neither to overestimate nor to underestimate our value, ourselves. It is to live God’s will for our own, particular lives in our own, particular circumstances” (Thurston, Hidden in God: Discovering the Desert Vision of Charles de Foucauld, p. 67).

Finally, the spirituality of Nazareth is a hidden life and one of mystery. It is being known by God alone. It is our most authentic life, because we are not worried about the judgment of others. Blessed Charles wrote to his sister, “Hide yourself in the Heart of Jesus; he is our refuge, our shelter, the house of the swallow, the nest of the turtledove, the bark of Peter to carry us over the stormy waters.”